All businesses have an ongoing need to market the goods and services they provide. In many cases, businesses use mailers, brochures, radio and television advertisements, internet advertisements and other marketing items that provide information about their business. The physical marketing material may come in a variety of sizes from magazine-sided catalogues and brochures to pamphlets and individual business cards.
Business cards are commonly exchanged between individuals as a means of passing along contact information. The business cards are typically constructed solely from paper, and do not contain any active elements. Recently, electronic elements have been added to business cards, brochures and other marketing items in order to provide additional content that cannot be provided via a traditional piece of marketing material.
For example, video screens have been added to marketing materials, along with batteries, speakers, buttons and other simple electronics. The video screens may be programmed to automatically start playing a prerecorded media segment relating to the business when a section of the brochure is opened. When such screens are added to marketing materials, the materials are often referred to as video brochures or video business cards. Video brochures may be manufactured using inexpensive structural materials and electronic components. This reduces their cost and makes them practical to give to people that are interested in the business.
Traditional manufacturing processes typically require that a large number of video brochures be produced when a given run is initiated. Because of the current nature of the brochures, businesses are unable to make customized video brochures and other electronic marketing material in small quantities, or at least not cheaply enough to make them economically feasible. For example, a business may want to make a personalized video brochure for a single user or for a small group of users that is unique to that user or group of users. Using current electronic marketing materials, the business would need to pay a large sum of money to produce the customized and personalized brochures. Accordingly, improvements can be made to allow personalized video brochures to be produced at a small scale.